"Yes, I have," replied Jack; "I have done nothing but lift heavy iron for a good many years, and now I want to find an easier way of making a living."
"You have come to the right place to find it. Step this way."
The student led the way around the room, passing close to the scholars, some of whom merely glanced up, others paying not the least attention to them, until he opened a door and ushered them into a private office. He introduced the boys as persons who had come there to see the "boss mechanic," and then went out; while a pleasant-faced, elderly gentleman replied that he was the "boss mechanic" of that school, and asked them what they wanted. Jack, who had made a blunder by the first question he asked, remained silent, leaving Julian to do all the talking.
"We want to get an education," said Julian.
"Well, that is what this school can give you," said the man. "What do you want to study?"
"Stenography and type-writing."
"And you?" he added, turning to Jack.
"Bookkeeping and writing; I write a fearful hand."
The superintendent, having made a start with the boys, invited them to sit down, and in a few minutes he learned something of the boys' history, and what occupation they had been engaged in previous to coming to Denver. Without telling him anything of their circumstances, they chanced to mention the names of Mr. Fay and Mr. Gibson, and after that Julian thought he seemed to take more interest in them. After a little conversation the boys pulled out their roll of bills and paid for six months' instruction and the books they would need, and then arose to go, after telling him they would be on hand in the morning, ready to go to work.
"I'll tell you what's a fact," said Jack, pausing on the stairs and pulling out his diminished roll of bills; "we will have to go to the bank and get some more money, the first thing you know."